Chip& Dan Heath tells telling great narratives is one of the best ways to build your message stick. But the question is – how do you tell a great tale? I’ve compiled 10 popular storytelling formulas in this post to help guide you tell a memorable tale in your content.

They were still very much alike. Both were happily marriage. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had become entrepreneurs.

But there was a difference. One of them was struggling because no one wanted to buy his product. The other was the owner of a successful million-dollar company with a product used by many.

This story was accommodated from what is considered the” The Greatest Sales Letter Of All Time .” This particular sales letter operated from 1975-2003 and sold$ 2 billion (!) worth of Wall Street Journal subscriptions.

The key to success?

The story.

Why Stories Matter

In Chip and Dan Heath’s bestselling book Made To Stick, they discuss 6 principles on how to attain your messages sticky.

Messages that are sticky builds us feel something, and changes something in us. It could be an entirely new way of looking at something, or an feeling we did not expect to feel.

This change inspires us to take action and then tell others about it.

One of these principles is the principle of telling stories.

Storytelling can create motions that prospects and customers can get behind. Storytelling can make a brand more personal, more human, more memorable.

All of these elements blend to create a brand that spreads by its own and make word-of-mouth.

However, despite its immense power, storytelling seems to be an elusive skill possessed by a rare few — the Christopher Nolans and Quentin Tarantinos, the Neil Gaimans and Stephen Kings.

This brings to mind the question 😛 TAGEND

How can a brand generate obligating stories that eventually spread — and make word-of-mouth?

Simple 😛 TAGEND

There exists a number of storytelling formulae that you can implement instantly to improve your brand storytelling.

These formulas have been used repeatedly, over and over again, by Hollywood executives, fiction writers and screenwriters to churn out entertaining tales that mesmerize for years.

And the best part?

You can use them too.

10 Storytelling Formulas You Can Use Right Away

1. Before-After-Bridge

This is one of the most popular and easiest to enforce copywriting and storytelling formulas around.

In fact, once you’ve learn this formula, you’ll begin to notice that most pitchings, narratives and landing pages are written in this manner.

Formula

Before — Demonstrate your readers the world with Problem

Paint a picture of their world with the Problem, before your solution. Make sure what you’re identifying is in tune with what the reader is really experiencing.

After — Prove your readers what the world would be like with Problem Solved

Describe the future world once their problem is solved. How does it look like? Would they be interested in that world? What benefits do they get?

Bridge — Here’s how to get there

Now that they know what it looks like to be on the other side, show them how to get there … with your solution.

2. Problem-Agitate-Solve

This is another popular copywriting formula. It is simple to understand and can be applied anywhere from Facebook Ads to blog posts.

Formula

Problem — Present a number of problems

First, you introduce a problem the reader is experiencing. Make sure that it is a real problem identifiable by your target audience.

Agitate — Agitate their own problems

Intensify and add salt to their wounds by using emotional language that describes what they’re going through.

Solve — Solve their own problems

Offer a answer for their problem. This is the moment where you introduce your product or service.

3. Features-Advantages-Benefits

This particular formula was designed for product-oriented narratives. This helps product designers and administrators describe and present their products in terms of benefits , not features.

Formula

Features

The facts and characteristics of what you’re about to describe

Advantages

What the features do.

Benefits

Why someone should care about the advantages provided.

4. Three-Act Structure

The Three-Act Structure is an old storytelling formula that has been used in many popular plays , fictions, movies, comic books, video games and verse. Most Hollywood movies follow this template, as it has been proven to be a successful method of storytelling.

Formula

* Setup*

In the first act, the setup, you introduce the main characters and the set where the narrative is taking place.

* Confrontation*

In act II, usually the longest part of the entire tale, the main character will encounter obstacles and problems in the form of people, objects or setting that will deter him from solving the problem. These obstacles will appear in rising frequency, from time to time apparently close to solving the problem, yet will be prevented from doing so.

* Resolution*

After a period of struggle with his both problems and obstacles, the main character will eventually prevail and the story wraps up. It is also this period of time where the main character is shown to have grown beyond what he was at the start — and is now a different person.

5. Hero’s Journey

The monomyth, or what is known as the Hero’s Journey is the common formula used in heroic tales where a hero embarks on a journey, suffers a crisis, wins the crisis and returns transformed.

This Hero’s Journey can be found in many myths and legends, including those of great religious leaders like Jesus Christ, Buddha and Moses.

The monomyth was popularise by the great mythologist Joseph Campbell in his 1949 seminal work: The Hero With A Thousand Faces( a must-read !)

Formula

First described in 17 stages by Joseph Campbell, the Hero’s Journey has since been abbreviated into 12 distinct stages by Hollywood executive Christopher Vogler.

The Ordinary World

The hero’s life prior to leaving for his quest

The Call To Adventure

The event that informs the hero a major change is coming

Refusal Of The Call

The hero will first attempt to ignore or avoid the call.

Meeting With the Mentor

The hero will satisfy a special mentor that they are able to aid him in his quest.

Intersecting The Threshold

Your hero finally moves on from his life and embarks on the quest.

Tests, Friends and Enemies

The different people who the hero will fulfill that will either help or prevent him from completing the quest.

Approach To the Innermost Cave

The hero will be on the verge of fighting his enemy.

The Ordeal

The fight between the hero and the enemy.

Reward

The hero receives a reward for defeating the enemy.

The Road Back

The hero travelings home and opposes( possibly) with lesser enemies.

The Resurrection

The hero demonstrates worthy of the reward he has received.

Return With The Elixir

The hero eventually reaches home and receives his accolades.

6. Freytag’s Pyramid: Five-Act Structure

A 19 th Century German novelist, Freytag analyzed the stories of ancient Greek storytellers and Shakespeare — and discovered a common pattern in their own homes. Writing in Die Technik des Dramas, he developed a diagram eventually known as the Freytag’s Pyramid that helped writers to organize their thoughts and ideas.

Formula

* Exposition*

This is the beginning of the story where the define, the character’s back stories and so on are introduced to the audience.

* Rising Action*

This is the series of events that creates the decided for the climax, and is usually the most important part of the story.

Climax

The turning point that changes the fate of the main character. This is the most exciting part of the narrative, the moment of greatest tension.

* Falling Action*

The conflict. The protagonist may win or lose in this battle with the antagonist.

* Denouement*

Normality is resumed and conflict is resolved.

7. Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle

In his New York Times bestselling volume Start With Why, Simon Sinek introduces the idea of the Golden Circle — a formula that great companies like Apple use to inspire people and create a movement.

Formula

Circle 1( Innermost ): Why — Why does the company exist ?

Why does the company exist? Why do the founders or the employees get out of bed for every morning? Why should anyone care about the company?

Circle 2: How — How do they do what they do

Also known as the Unique Selling Proposition, this is the differentiating factor given to explain how the company is better than its competitors.

Circle 3: What — What does the company do

What does the company sell? What industry is it in? What does the company do?

8. Dale Carnegie Magic Formula

Dale Carnegie, author of the classic( and still relevant) volume How To Win Friends and Influence people, created a simple 3-step formula to capture attention, build credibility, eliminate nervousness and call others to action.

Formula

* Incident*

Relive a vivid, its own experience relevant to the point. Telling a personal story helps the audience be attributed to you as human and sharing similar experiences.

To start off, you can begin by answering this question 😛 TAGEND

What specific incident inspired the purpose surround of your topic?

Action

In order to ensure that the reader or listen takes action, you must clearly lay out the action needed. One cannot expressed the view that the listener will immediately and intuitively understand what is required to be done after hearing your story.

Answer this 😛 TAGEND

What specific action do you want your listener/ reader to take?

And give them one clear, specific action to take.

* Benefit*

As Robert Greene writes in the 48 Laws of Power 😛 TAGEND

” Always appeal to self-interest .”

Sell the action to them.

Why should they do it? What do they stand to benefit?

Clearly laying it out to them will ensure that the listener takes the action you want them to.

9. Dave Lieber’s V Formula

Dave Lieber is the Dallas Morning News Watchdog columnist as well as a popular( and funny !) keynote speaker. In addition, Dave is also a storytelling expert hired by companies like Ernst& Young, American Heart Association and The US Coast Guard to educate, enlighten and entertain.

In his underrated TED talk, he shares the formula he has been using for his stories.

Formula

Introduce the character

Introduce the character, who he/ she is, the backstory and so on.

Bring the narrative to its lowest phase

People want to hear about failures and how the character turn the failings into a learning lesson or a success. Using emotions, describe how things went downhill for the character.

Turn the tale around and finish with a happy ending

Then, after the narrative has reached its trough, describe how things improved and then end the story on a happy ending.

10. Star-Chain-Hook

Many years ago, Dr. Frank Dignan, a consultant from University of Chicago Press made this formula for writing advertising copy.

Formula

* Star*

Create an attention-getting opening that is positive and upbeat

Chain

Create a series of convincing facts, benefits, and reasons that transform the reader’s attention into interest and desire.

* Hook*

Create a powerful and easy-to-respond call-to-action

Here you go 😛 TAGEND

A full list of storytelling formulas you can use to tell a story about your product that motivates your prospects to buy…